As seven alien races struggle to co-exist in an uneasy alliance, the Inter-Stellar Union sends Union Guard agents on missions to preserve the crucial balance. These specialized operatives must do what regional security cannot, dealing with smugglers, pirates, terrorists, and even greater challenges in order to bring stability to a universe that needs it desperately. Without the Union Guard, the races will not be prepared to face a looming alien threat they can only hope to defeat together.

Monday, January 23, 2017

The Ethical Machine

Driverless cars have recently brought artificial intelligence considerations to the public. MIT researchers have put up a website called the Moral Machine where you can take a survey and decide who should live and who should die in a car accident scenario. The idea behind this survey is that the consensus will then become part of an automated car's AI program, calculating the "best" outcome in a car accident situation where someone is going to die. The brakes are out, should the car veer left into a homeless man, or right, into a pregnant woman? Interestingly, most voters have chosen the car occupant's death over that of anyone outside the vehicle--but the voters also indicated they would never get in such a car!